Furniture-caster



(N0 Model.)

FURNITURE GASTER. 'No. 461,580. l Patented 0015.201891".

TAFFS Unirse ROBERT G. JORDAN, OF VVOODBURY, NEl/V JERSEY.V

FURNITURE-CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 461,580, dated October 20, 1891.

Application filed February 9, 1891. Serial No. 380,836. (No model.) v

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it. known that I, ROBERT G. JORDAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Woodbury, in the county of Gloucester and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furniture-Casters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to the so-called corner-casters, but it is applicable in whole or in part to other types of casters.

The principal objects of my present invention are, first, to provide casters susceptible of being attached directly to the inner portions of the sides or corners of the base-pieces of antique corner cabinets, buffets', bureaus, and other articles of furniture without `the interposition of wooden blocks or bridges between the casters and the base-pieces; second, to provide means within the housing of the caster for permitting of the convenient and ready introduction or withdrawal of the pintle and for retaining the same to place when the furniture is lifted, and, third, to protect the boards comprising the base-pieces from being split or otherwise injured not only after the introduction of the pintles and when the furniture is in use, but also before the introduction of the pintles and when the furniture is being drawn or slid about or being loaded or unloaded during transportation.

My invention consists of the improvements in casters hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The nature and objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming parthereof, and in which- Figure lis atop or plan view of a caster and its housing embodying features of my invention and adapted for application to the corner base-piece of an article of furniture. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View on the linescx of Fig. l, showing the housing provided with a runner, a bracket, and a socket, and also 'showing a pintle provided with a caster-wheel and retained to place in said socket by means of a spring. Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively vertical central sections of portions of casters embodying features of my invention and showing a slightly-modified arrangement of the spring for retaining the pintle to place in its I socket. Fig. 5 is a top or plan view of a caster embodying features of my invention and ar-` tached to or formed integral with the housing VA. The wings or iianges c and c are disposed substantially at right angles to each other, Figs. 1 and 2, when the caster is 'constructed for application to the corner of the base-piece of an article of furniture and are disposed in the same vertical plane, Figs. 5 and 6, when the caster is constructed for a'pplication to the side or end of the base-piece, as will be readily understood by reference to the drawings.

D is a horizontal bracket secured to or formed integral with the lower portion of the housing A and'adaptedto extend beneath the base-piece of the article of furniture in order to support the same. This bracket D is of triangular contour, Figs. 1 and 2, when the caster is constructed for attachment to the corner of the base-piece, and is of rectangular contour, Figs. 6 and 7, when the caster is constructed for application to the side or end of the base-piece.

The wings or flanges c and c and the' bracket D are represented in the drawings as having apertures drilled or otherwise formed therein for the reception of wood-screws for attaching the housing A to the base-piece. However, it will be understood that some of these apertures may, if preferred, be omittedfor example, the apertures in the bracket D; but preference is given to their employment.

d is a runner attached to or formed integral with the bracket D and extending beneath the lower surface thereof, so that when the pintle B is removed the furniture rests upon the runner d and may be slid or moved with ease upon the floor or on cars without danger of splintering or otherwise injuring the basepiece. In the drawings the runner d is rep- IOO resented as having the form of an annulus disposed around the pintle B; but other preferred forms of runners may be employed.

are horns or arms riveted or otherwise attached to the lower portion of the pintle B.

b is a roller or caster-wheel journaled to the horns Z) and adapted to support the article of furniture and permit of the same being drawn or pushed about from place to place in the usual manner.

The upper extremity of the pintle B is provided with a ball-shaped enlargement or head b2, adapted to engage in a cup-shaped cavity formed in the upper portion of the socket a, so as to form a bearing which supports the weight of the furniture at a single point. The lower portion or shank of the pintle B is preferably upset or otherwise provided with an enlargement B for engaging with the interior of the side walls of the socket a. in order to insure perfect freedom of rotation of the pintle in its socket.

The pintleA is normally retained to place in the socket a by means of a springf. This springf may be attached at one extremity thereof to the housing A by being tit-ted into a recess a", formed therein, Figs. l and 2, or by being attached therein by means of screws, Figs. 5, 6, and 7. In both cases the free eX- tremity of the springf is bent or curved inwardly, so as to engage the pintle B beneath the head b2 thereof, in order to retain the same normally to place and in order to permit of the withdrawal or introduction of the pintle. Ofcourse one extremity of the spring f may be riveted or otherwise attached to the upper or lower portions of the pintle B, Figs. 3 and 4, and the other extremity permitted to engage in an annular recess formed in the socket a; but preference is given to the employment of a spring attached to the housing and adapted to engage with the head b2 of the pintle, as has been described with reference to Figs. 2 and 7.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A cast-er having a removable pintle and provided with an integral housing comprising a socket for the reception of the pintle, a laterally-projecting bracket and wings secured to each other and to the socket, and a depending runner attached to the bracket and surrounding and registering with the open extremity of the recess in the socket, substantially as and for the purposes described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT G. JORDAN'.

Vitiiesses:

M. WARE SCOTT, W. HARRISON Lrvnnnonn. 

